The Xenoah Danube DX 17 was a fairly decent derailleur for 1973. It has two sprung pivots, a drop parallelogram, an offset pulley cage and easily accessible and logically placed adjustment screws. It even has the cable clamp mounted halfway along the outer parallelogram plate - something that would become de rigeur for many brands a few years later. If Shimano had released a direct, all steel, competitor for the SunTour Honor it might have looked very like this.

The 'Danube' logo has nothing to do with waltzing through the gears, instead it harks back to the DnB brand (just omit the vowels). But the hanger plate is clearly labelled 'Xenoah', celebrating the new company that had bought out DnB. Finally it is possible that the 'DX' label is simply the first letters of 'Danube Xenoah'.

Personally, I love the Danube DX 17 as a piece of styling. The rigorous rotational symmetry of the parallelogram is stunning. Check out the placing of the b- and p-pivots and of the adjustment screws and their mounting studs. The needle knib of the designer's Rotring would have been red hot after penning this baby...

• Derailleur brands: Xenoah
• Country: Japan
• Date of introduction: 1973?
• Date of this example: unknown
• Model no.: 17?
• Weight: 406g including hanger plate
• Maximum cog: 28 teeth?
• Total capacity: 28 teeth?
• Pulley centre to centre: 55mm
• Index compatibility: friction
• Chain width: 3/32”
• Logic: top normal
• B pivot: sprung
• P pivot: sprung
• Materials: steel

Ref. 1388